Of Witches and Warlocks: The Demon Kiss (27 page)

We entered the condo quietly, and he led me
into his bedroom where he shut and locked the door behind us.

I went over and sat on the end of the bed,
looking up at him as he moved to stand in front of me.

“You’re frightened because he’s my father,”
he said, jumping right back into the conversation without any
preamble to give me warning where this conversation was headed.

I shook my head as I looked away from him.
“No,” I said, unable to meet his gaze, as he was hitting far too
close to the truth for me to feel comfortable.

“Yes,” he said, as he knelt down in front of
me, forcing me to look at him. “It’s all right, Portia. I’m not
going to turn into him.”

“How can you know that for sure? It’s been
his intention for you since you were young. He’s been chasing after
you your whole life, not to mention that he almost succeeded with
his plans once.”

“But he didn’t, thanks to you and your
magic.” he replied, reaching out to take both of my hands in
his.

“Yes. And you just keep running back to him
now, don’t you?” I said with a hint of accusation in my voice.

“Is that what you think?” he said, looking up
at me, searching my eyes. “That I want to go to him?”

“It’s all you talk about,” I said, my
emotions beginning to surface once again. “It’s always about
leaving me, to protect me, and going to find him. I can’t take it
anymore.”

“But I’m doing it because I love you and I
want a life with you,” he sighed in exasperation.

“I know, but it still seems to bring the same
result,” I said, really trying to explain to him, to help him
understand what I was really feeling. “You’re gone, and we’re not
together. Whether it’s because you’ve been taken against your will,
or because you’ve chosen to face it head on, it always results in
you leaving me alone, and it hurts.”

“Oh, baby, that’s not my intention,” he said
softly. “Not ever. It hurts for me, too, when we’re apart,
remember?”

“Yeah, but that never seems to stop you,” I
replied, honestly, wanting to let him know just how much it wounded
me.

“Well, consider it stopped as of right now
then. I promise not to ever leave you behind again,” he stated, a
light beginning to shine in his eyes. “All right? We’ll fight this
thing together or not at all.”

“Really?” I asked him, afraid to believe in
what he was telling me. “No more of this super protector
thing?”

“Who am I kidding?” he laughed. “You’re the
one who’s done the majority of the saving in this relationship.
Maybe my ego is bruised and that’s why I’m acting this way.”

“Whatever,” I said, with a small smile,
loving that his sense of humor was surfacing.

“Are we good?” he asked with a smile.

“We’re good,” I said, returning his
smile.

“Come here,” he said, as he stood back up and
pulled me tightly into his strong embrace.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, laying my
head against his shoulder, my eyes watching his pulse beat strongly
in his neck.

He clasped his hands together around my back,
squeezing me hard in a giant bear hug.

“I love you so much, Portia,” he said softly
against my ear. “I wish I knew how to show it to you so you could
really understand.”

“Just having you here with me shows me
enough,” I said, tipping my head back to look up at him.

He bent over then and kissed me.

It was evening when we had finally finished
up dinner with everyone and gathered to discuss things once
more.

“So, let’s try this again,” Dad said, giving
a warning glance over toward Vance and me.

“Wait,” Vance said abruptly, and all eyes
turned to look at him. “I have something I need to say to
everyone.”

“Go ahead,” Dad replied, turning the time
over to him.

“Well, first I’d like to apologize on behalf
of Portia and myself for our behavior earlier. We’ve been under a
lot of strain lately, as you all know, and we’d reached a breaking
point. I know this doesn’t excuse the way we acted, but we’re both
truly sorry for any discomfort we may’ve caused any of you during
our little tirade.”

Everyone nodded his or her heads in
understanding.

Vance looked around at each one of them
before he continued.

“The second thing I need to tell all of you
is, regardless of however we decide to handle this thing, neither
Portia or myself is to be used as the person who will draw my dad
out into the open.”

Everyone looked up at us in surprise.

“Under the circumstances, we feel it to be in
the best interest of our relationship to remain together in our
approach of this thing,” Vance said as he reached over then and
took my hand. “Using one or the other of us is just too difficult
for the person left behind to handle.”

There was silence in the room as everyone
absorbed what he was saying. I knew this had been a difficult thing
for him to do, since he strongly felt he should be the bait in this
situation, since it was his father we were dealing with. He was
doing this for me, to protect my feelings once again, placing me
first in front of everything else in his life.

“All right,” Dad said after a minute, nodding
his head in understanding. “We appreciate your openness, and we’ll
see what we can do when and if the situation arises.”

“Thank you,” Vance said, pulling me close up
next to him. “It means a lot to both of us.”

Dad turned back to face the rest of the
group. “Does anyone else have anything to add?” When no one
answered, he continued on. “Very well then, I took the liberty of
drawing up some surveillance itineraries. Basically it’ll just be
more of the same. Watching the warehouse, which I think Juan could
easily keep track of for us, and of course keeping a heavy scrutiny
on the house or possibly tailing Damien if the need arises. Are we
all onboard with that?”

Everyone seemed to be in agreement.

“Now obviously we can’t afford to spend
Vance’s entire trust fund renting fishing boats to keep an eye on
the place. And after what happened before, I think it would be in
our best interest to remain away from the regular marina just in
case things aren’t as patched up as we hoped they’d be with Enrico
and his crew. So my suggestion is the purchase of a regular motor
boat and a trailer, something small enough that we can pull into
the secured parking lot here during the day and take it out at
night when we might need it.”

“I think this is a great idea,” Vance agreed
with Dad. “I’d also have two motors put on it. One more powerful
that we can get up some speed out of, and one that will run quietly
so we can maneuver around without making a big distraction if the
need arises.”

“That’s a very good idea,” my dad agreed.
“I’m also thinking evening surveillances would be our best bet. It
was too hard to see into the window during the day last time. Now,
I also need to know if anyone is having any pressing matters they
need to return home for.”

There were several who commented that they
needed to go back to Sedona for work, as their Christmas vacation
time was coming to an end.

“I’m going to encourage you to go home and do
the things you need to do,” Dad said to these individuals. “I have
no idea how long we’re going to be here, and if the situation
becomes too desperate for us who’ll remain; we can always fly you
in if the need were to arise.”

The meeting was finally adjourned after much
discussion, and it was decided that we would be sending everyone
back to Sedona except for me, Vance, Dad, Grandma, Brad and
Shelly.

“I’m glad everyone is going back,” I said
later, as Vance and I were sitting out on the balcony with Brad and
Shelly.

“Why?” Shelly asked, looking a little
surprised.

“Some of them seem scared,” I replied. “I
don’t think they wanted to be here anymore.”

“I got the same feeling,” Vance said,
slightly nodding his head.

“Well, we’re still here for you,” Brad said
as he reached over to grasp Shelly by the hand, and Vance started
laughing out loud at his comment.

“What?” Brad asked, looking a little
perplexed.

“I’m not trying to sound stuck up in anyway,
but doesn’t it seem kind of ironic that the full-fledged witches
and warlocks are running home, while the newbies are here sticking
things out? You two rock,” he said as he smiled genuinely over at
them.

“Maybe we’re just too dumb to know better,”
Shelly suggested with a shrug of her shoulders.

“I don’t think that’s it,” Vance replied,
growing somber now. “Brad was on the boat. I promise he remembers
everything he saw that night. He knows exactly what we’re going up
against.”

We were all silent as we remembered.

“I wish I’d been there,” Shelly said quietly
with a dejected sigh as a forlorn look passed across her face.

“No, you don’t,” I said quickly. “Trust me,
Shelly, it was not a pretty thing to see, and I didn’t even watch
it all.”

“You didn’t?” she asked, seeming surprised by
this little tidbit of volunteered information.

“No. Vance wouldn’t let me,” I told her
honestly. “Even he didn’t watch everything that happened in the
house, choosing instead to try and help calm me down.”

“It wasn’t the only reason I didn’t watch,”
Vance said, turning to look at me as he swallowed thickly before he
continued. “I couldn’t watch them consume the blood. It was too …
hard.”

It had never occurred to me until that moment
that he might have desired to be a part of the blood lust. That
comment did scare me a little.

“Shelly, the things that happened that night
were truly awful,” Brad said, redirecting the subject before I
could say anything more to Vance’s comment. “If I could burn them
from my mind, I would.”

“Oh,” was all she said.

Dad walked out onto the porch then.

“Hey, kids. You might want to think about
calling it a night. We have a full day of things we need to do
tomorrow,” he said.

“All right, Dad,” I replied as I stretched
out, a sudden yawn overtaking me. “Thanks. We’ll head that way
now.”

We slowly got up from our chairs and filed
back inside.

Vance started pulling me toward his room, but
I stopped him, and he turned to face me with a questioning look in
his eyes.

“I’m going to sleep with Shelly tonight,” I
said, softly, even though there were questions I had wanted to ask
him.

“Is everything okay?” he asked, looking a
little bit surprised. “Is this about our argument earlier?”

“No. We’re good, I promise,” I smiled,
squeezing his hand slightly. “I just think Shelly is feeling a
little left out again. I want to see if I can help her feel better
about things.”

“Oh. All right then,” he said as he leaned
over to kiss me goodnight. “Sleep good,” he added as he stepped
away from me stretching our clasped hands between us until the
connection broke.

“You, too,” I replied, watching him go until
he entered his bedroom and closed the door behind him.

I turned and entered into my room.

“Are you getting your pajamas?” Shelly asked
me casually, as she watched me move toward the dresser.

“No. Well, yes I am, but I meant I’m spending
the night in here tonight,” I replied.

“Are you and Vance still fighting?” she asked
me, sounding really concerned about it.

“No.” I smiled at her. “I just wanted to hang
out here with you tonight.”

“Cool!” she said, brightening instantly.

“Actually, I thought I’d tell you about the
night on the boat,” I replied watching for her reaction. “If you
really think you want to know, that is. It was pretty
gruesome.”

She thought about it for a moment before she
spoke. “It just seems like everyone else knows exactly what
happened, and I don’t. I know it’s a dumb reason, but it’s the
truth.”

“Do you want to know then?” I asked her
again.

She nodded. “Yes. I do,” she replied firmly,
sounding completely sure of her decision this time.

I began to talk, as I got ready for bed,
starting with when we first got on the boat, meeting Enrico and his
crew, and then working my way through all the events that had
occurred throughout the day.

She listened with rapt attention to every
word I spoke, rarely even stopping me to ask a question.

When I finally reached the part about the
demon kiss and the men who were fed upon by Damien and his
followers, I could see a sickened look pass over her face, but I
didn’t skip a single detail, choosing not to sugar coat it at
all.

I continued on with the story about all the
hysteria I had caused for the crew with my actions and of rigging
the boat to fool the fishermen, trying to keep them in the dark
about the magic.

She laughed a little at that part.

“So that’s all of it,” I said at the end of
my narration. “You know everything that happened after that.”

“Thank you,” she said, looking relieved, like
a huge burden had been lifted from her mind. “And I’m really sorry
it was so traumatic for all of you.” she added sympathetically.

I sighed heavily. “I just wish this was all
over. I miss just being a normal person with a normal life.”

“You’re a witch, Portia,” she said as she
laughed at me. “You’ll never be normal again.”

“True,” I replied, pondering much longer on
her comment than she was even aware.

“So is your mom leaving tomorrow with the
others?” Shelly asked, changing the subject.

“Yes. The hospital called and said they need
her to come back to work,” I explained absently.

“You and I should get up early so we can make
something great for breakfast for everyone before they leave,” she
stated.

“That sounds like fun. What should we make?”
I asked wondering if she had something specific in mind.